Loading...
BCC Minutes 09/20/1999 E (Tropical Storm Harvey)September 20, 1999 TRANSCRIPT OF THE EMERGENCY MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS Naples, Florida, September 20, 1999 LET IT BE REMEMBERED, that the Board of County Commissioners, in and for the County of Collier, and also acting as the Board of Zoning Appeals and as the governing board(s) of such special districts as have been created according to law and having conducted business herein, met on this date at 5:45 p.m. in EMERGENCY SESSION in Building "F" of the Government Complex, East Naples, Florida, with the following members present: CHAIRWOMAN: Pamela S. Mac'Kie John C. Norris ALSO PRESENT: Robert Fernandez, County Administrator David Weigel, County Attorney Page 1 September 20, 1999 CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: We'll start the emergency meeting of the Board of County Commissioners -- I wish we could adjust the microphones, but I guess that's not really important right now -- and hear from our emergency management director, Ken Pineau. MR. PINEAU: Good evening, commissioners. We're gathered here because of Tropical Storm Harvey. It's quite possible that it may become Hurricane Harvey within the next eight to 12 hours as it moves toward the east-northeast. At the present time the current position is at 27 degrees north, 85.4 degrees west. That puts it about 220 miles west-northwest of the Naples area at the present time, since the 5:00 report. Maximum winds were at 60 miles per hour, and it's moving toward the east-northeast at six miles per hour. The map I have up there shows you the present position and the wind field at the present time. We have a tropical storm warning actually posted from the mouth of the Suwannee River all the way down to Cape Sable, with a hurricane watch from the Suwannee River down to Bonita Beach. We're looking for the tropical storm force winds to be moving into this area by 2:00 tomorrow morning. And these winds in the neighborhood of 40 to 45 miles an hour could be with us through most of the early morning hours, up to about 10:00 or 11:00. We're looking for the storm to make landfall in the vicinity of the Tampa Bay area by midmorning tomorrow. It should continue off to the east-northeast and exit the coast up around Cape Canaveral during the late afternoon and then go out into the Atlantic, well offshore. This will give you an idea of the tropical storm force wind field. The area outlined in blue is actually the tropical storm force winds. And we are right on the limit of that. Virtually all of the county is under the tropical storm force winds with this path. And the area outlined in yellow is the winds in excess of 50 miles per hour that especially in the vicinity of the Tampa Bay area, they could quite possibly get up into the 70 to 75 mile an hour range during the day tomorrow. I think the most important thing for us -- I think the most important thing for us is going to be the -- CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: Move it down just a little bit. There you go. MR. PINEAU: Most important thing for us will be the amount of rainfall. In fact, we've had as much as six inches of rain since this incident started earlier this morning. It looks like we could get an additional five to six inches before this is all over with. It's not going to be a steady rain. As you can see, we had some fairly heavy bands of precipitation move through during the late afternoon. We may have some periods of no rain or some light rain, but there's some other bands in back of that which could generate some more heavy showers and thunderstorms. In fact, we had reports of a possible tornado out at the intersection of Green Boulevard and 951 about an hour and a half ago. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: The picture you're showing us, what's the time of -- MR. PINEAU: This was at 4:45. This was about an hour ago. And things have probably improved a little bit since then. The heaviest precipitation has moved off to the east of us. But as you can see out Page 2 September 20, 1999 off the coast, there's some more light rain, and we expect some more heavy showers off and on during the night. We have -- at this time we have Captain Storrar that can give you a rundown on the roads that are closed. I don't know that we have to tell you. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: It was hard getting here. Captain Storrar. COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Ken, is this meeting being shown on television live? MR. PINEAU: I believe it is. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: Do you know, Bob? Yes. MR. FERNANDEZ: Yes, it's being shown on 54. And we understand that the news media were not able to come here, inquired about our broadcasting on 54, and indicated that they would use that broadcast for their purposes. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: Good. MR. STORRAR: The following roads I'm showing that's closed, and this started about 6 -- or about 4:15. Commercial and Kirkwood; 41 and Shadowlawn Drive to Palm Drive in the westbound lane; Airport and Mercantile; Airport Road and U.S. 41; Airport Road by DeVoe Pontiac, both north and southbound lanes; Airport Road and Estey; Golden Gate Parkway and 55th; I have 41st Street and Golden Gate Parkway; 50th Street and Golden Gate Parkway; Linwood Avenue; Kings Way; Palm Drive and Harrison; most of Hunter Boulevard; and Penny Lane, in East Naples. I have several others that have standing water, and as Ken said, if this continues, we're probably going to wind up having to close those sections of it down also. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: And what's your best estimate, Ken, about how much longer the rain's going to continue? MR. PINEAU: Well, we should have these passing bands of heavy showers coming through at least in the next 12 to 14 hours, maybe as much as midmorning tomorrow, before we see any real drastic improvement. As that storm moves onshore, we should start improving. We have already had one indication of water in one person's home. It's Manorca Avenue again. This is the sixth flooding in that home now. And we're in the process of getting that building elevated, but she has three inches of water in her home, once again. And there may be others, especially along the Linwood Avenue corridor where we've had problems in the past. We have no shelters open at this time, and we're not recommending any evacuations. We do have the Teco Arena. Lee County is opening that facility as a shelter tonight at 6:00 p.m. If we have to open a shelter, I would suggest that we open up Golden Gate Community Center right now. And as far as schools are concerned tomorrow, our biggest worry of course is these tropical storm force winds with these winds in excess of 40 miles an hour, especially at pickup time for the students. And it would be my recommendation to cancel school for tomorrow. As far as canceling county business activities, I think it's too early to say. We could make that decision tomorrow morning, just study the situation. But at the present time, I think we should definitely consider recommending to the board school board to cancel Page 3 September 20, 1999 schools for Tuesday. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: And do you have any idea when they might make that decision? MR. PINEAU: We hope to be making that very shortly. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: My daughter's in the audience celebrating. It's a little early yet. That's not decided yet. MR. FERNANDEZ: It's going to shorten your Christmas vacation. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: That's right. MR. PINEAU: We will be operating at a Level II in the emergency operations throughout the night. And we also have a proclamation requesting a state of local emergency for Collier County for your consideration. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: We can have that. And my -- as things progress as the evening goes on, how will -- how will you communicate with the public if in fact we do decide to open shelters in Golden Gate, for example? MR. PINEAU: Well, we'll be doing that through the media. We'll be blast faxing that out. And we'll be -- we're always in constant contact with the media. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: And I assume on this channel, could we do something if we needed to, Mr. Fernandez, make announcements on this Channel 54? MR. FERNANDEZ: Madam Chairwoman, we already have on Channel 54 the listing of all the roads that have been closed. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: Good. MR. FERNANDEZ: So we have those being scrolled up in between programs. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: Okay. And I understand since we don't have a quorum, the -- MR. PINEAU: Under the County Ordinance 84-37, you can sign the state of local emergency. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: And on your recommendation, I'll do that. What other business do we have then, Mr. Fernandez? MR. FERNANDEZ: I believe that's all we have. We may be making a -- as Mr. Pineau indicated, we may be making a decision regarding the workday tomorrow at a later time, but we think it's premature at this point to make that decision. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: Do you have any estimated times that people should tune in, for example? When might that decision be made about MR. PINEAU: Well, I don't think we can really make an honest decision until we get the 5:00 a.m. report tomorrow morning. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: Okay. MR. PINEAU: But I think that would still give us time to, you know, make that decision. We'll be in contact. We'll have somebody here throughout the night. I'm pretty confident of the tropical storm force winds, especially in the northern portion of the county. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: What about evacuations of mobile homes? MR. PINEAU: It's not necessary. Based on this wind field, it's going to be primarily a rain event rather than a wind event, with the exception of the school children waiting for buses in the early morning hours. It's not a safe place to be. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: And the phone numbers that people who are Page 4 September 20, 1999 curious or have -- MR. PINEAU: Yes, our phone bank has been operational since early afternoon, and our phone number is 774-8444. We'll have operators standing by. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: Okay. Any other business? COMMISSIONER NORRIS: Just to clarify, Mr. Pineau, Collier County is under a tropical storm warning? MR. PINEAU: Tropical storm warning. It extends down to Cape Sable. And it also includes mainland Monroe County and Collier County. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: The hurricane watch that we hear about does not include Collier, it -- MR. PINEAU: Does not include -- CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: -- stops at the county line? MR. PINEAU: It stops at Bonita Beach and northward. CHAIRWOMAN MAC'KIE: Anything else? Okay, we're through. MR. PINEAU: Thank you. There being no further business for the good of the County, the meeting was adjourned by order of the Chair at 6:00 p.m. BOARD OF COL~TY coMMIsSIONERS BOARD oF PPEALS EX OFFiCiO BOARDIS , These minutes approved by the Board on presented / or as corrected TRANSCRIPT PREPARED ON BEHALF OF GREGORY COURT REPORTING SERVICE, INC., BY CHERIE' R. LEONE, NOTARY PUBLIC Page 5 PROCLAMATION/RESOLUTION 99- 370 PROCLAMATION OF TItE CItAIRWOMAN OF TIlE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF COLLIER COUNTY TO DECLARE A STATE OF EMERGENCY FOR ALL TERRITORY WITmN THE LEGAL BOUNDARI'E~S OF COLLIER COUNTY INCLUDING ALL INCORPORATED AND UNINCORPORATED AREAS WHEREAS, The National Hurricane Center recognizes the danger to residents and businesses by placing Collier County under a Tropical Storm Warning, and WHEREAS, Collier County has high evacuation times and limited emergency shelter spaces in order to evacuate residents and guests from the hazards of a hurricane, and WHEREAS, the current forecast error of the National Hurricane Center does not allow for a confident prediction of the track of Tropical Storm Harvey at that point in time coinciding with Collier County's High evacuation times, and WHEREAS, Tropical Storm Harvey has the potential for causing extensive damage to public utilities, public buildings, public communication systems, public streets and roads, public drainage systems, commercial and residential building and areas, and WHEREAS, Chapter 252.38 (a) (5), Florida Statutes, provides for a political subdivision such as Collier County to declare a "State of Local Emergency" and to waive the procedures and formalities otherwise required of political subdivisions by law pertaining to: 1. Performance of public work and taking whatever prudent action is necessary to ensure the health, safety and welfare of the community; 2. Entering into contracts; 3. Incurring obligations; 4. Employment of permanent and temporary workers; 5. Rental of equipment; 6. Utilization of volunteer workers; 8. Appropriation and expenditure of public funds; NOW THEREFORE, IT IS RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA, in Emergency session, this 20th day of September, 1999, that Tropical Storm Harvey poses a serious threat to the lives and property of residents of Collier County and that a State of Local Emergency be declared, effective immediately for all territory in the incorporated and unincorporated areas of Collier County. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Board of County Commissioners hereby exercises its authority pursuant to Collier County Ordinance No. 84-37 and waives the procedures and formalities required by law of a political subdivision, as provided in Chapter 252.38 (a) (5), Florida Statutes. This Resolution adopted by proclamation of Chairwoman Mac'Kie, in absence of a quorum of the Board of Collier County Commissioners. Dat~d~~Oz/P~'~ TES~[~: :~":. BO~ OF CO~TY CO~SSIO~S, ~t*m~'~,~lerk COLL~O~TY. ~O~A [ / ~ ~~}~' ~}: b~ela S Mac ~ffChai~o n - b hd C. County Attorney